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Night and Fog (1955, 31 minutes): Alain Resnais s powerful
film about the atrocities of Auschwitz, made especially
18).
Seconds (1966, 106 minutes): A secret organization sells rich
people completely new identities by giving them virtually
brand-new bodies, appearances, names, and backgrounds.
Does the self change, too? Well-made thriller with one of
the most terrifying endings I have ever seen.
Chapter 11: The Universalist: Immanuel Kant
Becket (1964, 149 minutes): The big-screen version of Jean
Anouilh s excellent play about Henry II s friendship with
Eleni (1985, 114 minutes): Superb story of a mother s sacrifice
to save her son s life during the Greek Civil War. A story of
how courage, sacrifice, honor, and love transform duty into
something higher.
Gone Baby Gone (2007, 114 minutes): Contemporary take on
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Judgment at Nuremberg (1961, 186 minutes): Compelling and
haunting story of coming to grips with evil. Raises the
A Man for All Seasons (1966, 120 minutes): Superb telling of
the story of Sir Thomas More s refusal to sanction Henry
VIII s divorce. More s trial contains magnificent acting and a
compelling example of acting on principle.
Schindler s List (1993, 196 minutes): Steven Spielberg s epic
version of the true story of a dissolute German businessman
Chapter 12: The Utilitarian: John Stuart Mill
Animal Farm (1955, 72 minutes): Animated version of George
Orwell s timely political fable in which the animals overthrow
the cruel farmer only to impose a tyranny of their own based
on the formula all animals are equal but some animals are
more equal than others. Can be used to raise questions
Charly (1968, 106 minutes): Disturbing story about a mentally
retarded man who temporarily becomes a genius. Touches on
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The Chosen (1981, 108 minutes): Rod Steiger s performance
as a Hasidic rabbi is superb. Great example of an archetype of
wisdom and interesting interplay between the rabbi and his
Educating Rita (1983, 110 minutes): Warm-hearted and
interesting story about the transformative power of education.
Another take on Mill s faith in utilitarian (rather, Millian)
The Emperor s Club (2002, 108 minutes): Can virtue be
taught in school? A prep school teacher does his best to do
just that in this story of a classics instructor who tries to teach
A Fine Madness (1966, 104 minutes): Sean Connery, Joanne
Woodward, and Jean Seberg in a film about the line between
madness and genius. Connery plays a deadbeat, philandering
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Forrest Gump (1994, 251 minutes): This story of a mentally
slow man s remarkable life also raises the question of higher
pleasures touched on in Charly, Educating Rita, and A Fine
Madness.
History Boys (2006, 112 minutes): Rollicking story of eight
boys who choose to spend an extra term in school preparing
The Paper Chase (1973, 111 minutes): John Houseman s
portrayal of Professor Kingsfield is a tour de force example of
the Socratic teaching method as it is practiced in law school.
Wild River (1960, 110 minutes): Elia Kazan s moving and
dramatic account of a Tennessee Valley Authority engineer s
efforts to oversee the construction of a dam on the Tennessee
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Chapter 13: The Materialist: Karl Marx
Animal Farm (1955, 72 minutes): Animated version of George
Orwell s timely political fable in which the animals overthrow
the cruel farmer only to impose a tyranny of their own based
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, 142 minutes):
Pier Paolo Pasolini s powerful Marxist portrait of the life of
Christ. The scene in which Jesus drives the money-changers
out of the temple is dramatically compelling. It shows Jesus as
a threat to the bourgeoisie. This is a controversial, thought-
provoking film.
Jerry Maguire (1996, 139 minutes): What happens when a
man who was once willing to do anything to make money
Local Hero (1983, 111 minutes): Excellent film about what
happens when a young American executive is sent to a small
Scottish coastal village for the purpose of acquiring off-shore
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Modern Times (1936, 165 minutes): Charlie Chaplin s classic
satire of the industrialized world reflects Chaplin s
Wall Street (1987, 124 minutes): The Charlie Sheen character
must choose between bourgeois capitalist values and his
Chapter 14: The Existentialist: Søren Kierkegaard
Babette s Feast (1988, 103 minutes): A melancholy, elegiac
film about a woman who wins a lottery and uses her
Kierkegaard (1994, 60 minutes, Films for the Humanities &
Lost in Translation (2003, 102 minutes): Existential inquiry
into emptiness and meaning centers on the unlikely encounter
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Love and Death (1975, 85 minutes): Intellectual Woody
Allen comedy poking fun at Tolstoy s War and Peace, Bergman
One Flew Over the Cuckoo s Nest (1975, 134 minutes):
Arresting film about an antiestablishment existential
Shadowlands (1994, 131 minutes): Biographical sketch of
C. S. Lewis s transformation from a cloistered academic to a
man in full, as he meets, falls in love with, and then loses a
Shadows and Fog (1992, 85 minutes): Another of Woody
Allen s existential comedies, this one about a small,
insignificant bookkeeper wakened one night by his neighbors
to help search for a serial killer. By the time the bookkeeper is
Søren Kierkegaard (1994, 60 minutes, Danish Film Institute):
Danish high school students discuss Kierkegaard s ideas as
they reflect on nature, existence, and meaningfulness.
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The Swimmer (1968, 94 minutes): Odd but genuinely
fascinating fable about a man wearing swimming trunks who
Chapter 15: The Pragmatist: William James
The Butterfly and the Diving Bell (2008, 112 minutes): This
story of a man imprisoned in his paralyzed body after he has
a stroke raises questions about the will to live and about
heroism, mortality, love, and what constitutes a meaningful
life, a life worth living.
A Clockwork Orange (1972, 136 minutes): Stanley Kubrick s
classic (and disturbing) film set in a dystopian future raises
profound questions about free will, human dignity, justice,
responsibility, what it means to be a human being.
My Name Is Bill W (1989, 100 minutes): Story of Bill Wilson,
They Might Be Giants (1972, 88 minutes): Delightful,
intelligent comedy-fantasy about a lawyer who imagines he is
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Troy (2004, 163 minutes, 196 minutes for the director s cut):
Interesting, truncated treatment of Homer s Iliad with
impressive performances by Brian Cox (Agamemnon), Peter
OToole (Priam), and Eric Bana (Hector). The contrast
Chapter 16: The Anti-Philosopher: Friedrich Nietzsche
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, 141 minutes): This brilliant
movie expresses the Nietzschean doctrine of the overman.
The opening scenes show the emergence of man from ape and
Apocalypse Now (1979, 335 minutes): Based on Joseph
Conrad s novella Heart of Darkness. Francis Ford Coppola s
SOCCIO ARCHETYPES OF WISDOM
The Fountainhead (1949, 114 minutes): This film version of
Ayn Rand s novel obscures some of the story s Nietzschean
tone, but the idolization of superior types comes through.
Friedrich Nietzsche (30 minutes, Insight Media): Simulated
interview of Friedrich Nietzsche by Professor Edward de
Bono; Nietzsche discusses heroic morality and the will to
power.
Nietzsche and the Nazis: A Personal View (2006, 165
minutes): Dr. Stephen Hick s arresting, unsettling and
informative documentary tackles the question that intrigues
and troubles many: Was Nietzsche the intellectual father of
the Nazis or not?
Night and Fog (1955, 31 minutes): Alain Resnais s powerful
film about the atrocities of Auschwitz. If piles of human hair,
and roomfuls of eyeglasses and shoes, and corpses being
Oscar Wilde (1959, 96 minutes): Fine biography of a real-life
hedonist. Wilde (1997, 118 minutes), a more contemporary
take on Oscar Wilde s fall, as is to be expected, is more direct
regarding Wilde s homosexuality and struggles to be himself
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Rope (1948, 80 minutes): Alfred Hitchcock s thinly disguised
tour de force about the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case.
In the film, two privileged college students, inspired by
Troy (2004, 163 minutes, 196 minutes for the director s cut):
Interesting, truncated treatment of Homer s Iliad with
impressive performances by Brian Cox (Agamemnon), Peter
OToole (Priam), and Eric Bana (Hector). The contrast
between the heroes Hector and Achilles (Brad Pitt) can be
used to further discussions of the archaic hero and the heroic
When Nietzsche Wept (2007, 105 minutes): This truly bizarre
film is based on Irvin Yalom s bestselling, award-winning
novel of the same title. Yalom tells the story of a fictional
encounter between Nietzsche and Sigmund Freud. Lou
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Who ll Stop the Rain? (1978, 125 minutes): On the surface,
this is a movie about drug smuggling, friendship, and
The Wind and the Lion (1975, 119 minutes): Sean Connery
portrays a kind of overman in the character of a North
Chapter 17: The Twentieth Century: Ludwig Wittgenstein and
Martin Heidegger
Analytic Philosophy (2004, 49 minutes, Films for the
Humanities & Sciences): Hilary Putnam, Colin McGinn, and
Scott Soames discuss the origins of analytic philosophy, the
Continental Philosophy (2004, 48 minutes, Films for the
Humanities & Sciences): In this a companion piece to Analytic
Husserl, Heidegger and Modern Existentialism (1987, 48
minutes, Films for the Humanities & Sciences): Bryan Magee
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The Ister (2004, 189 minutes): Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe, Jean-
Luc Nancy, Bernard Siegler, and Hans-Jürgen Syberberg take
a literal and philosophical journey from the mouth of the
Lonely Are the Brave (1962, 107 minutes): A contemporary
cowboy confronts a sense of homelessness as he struggles
Night and Fog (1955, 31 minutes): Alain Resnais s powerful
film about the atrocities of Auschwitz. If piles of human hair,
and roomfuls of eyeglasses and shoes, and corpses being
bulldozed into mass graves by the hundreds aren t indicators
Wittgenstein (1993, 75 minutes): Derek Jarman s interesting,
if idiosyncratic, biopic of Wittgenstein s life, with Michael
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Chapter 18: Philosophy as a Way of Life
Alien (1979, 117 minutes): Though the series is violent and
sensationalist, Sigourney Weaver s role in the first film in this
The Chosen (1981, 108 minutes): Rod Steiger s performance
as a Hasidic rabbi is superb. Great example of an archetype of
wisdom and interesting interplay between the rabbi and his
City of Life and Death (2009, 132 minutes): L.A. Times film
critic Kenneth Turan described this film as harrowing and
unflinching, a savage nightmare so consuming and
claustrophobic you will want to leave but fear to go . . . a
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Do the Right Thing (1991, 112 minutes): Spike Lee s brilliant
portrayal of contemporary racial attitudes and complexities
A Doll s House (1973, 95 minutes): Ibsen s well-known play
about a wife s growing sense of self makes an important
feminist statement. Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins (in his
pre Hannibal Lector days), and Ralph Richardson are part of
a superb British cast.
The Emperor s Club (2002, 108 minutes): A classics instructor
tries to teach a defiant, privileged student about virtue and
character. What constitutes great teaching? Would Socrates
survive in a modern school? That is, what is the relationship
between formal education and life? And can virtue be taught
A Fine Madness (1966, 104 minutes): Sean Connery, Joanne
Woodward, and Jean Seberg in a film about the line between
madness and genius. Connery plays a deadbeat, philandering
poet who may be either brilliant or insane. Although the
comedy is dated and perhaps sexist, the larger issue raised
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Gandhi (1982, 188 minutes): The opening sequences set in
South Africa are powerful and disturbing, graphically
showing what Martin Luther King, Jr., meant when he said
that nonviolent resistance is not a method for cowards. The
History Boys (2006, 112 minutes): Rollicking story of eight
boys who choose to spend an extra term in school preparing
for entrance exams to England s finest universities, even
Malcolm X (1993, 186 minutes): Powerful Spike Lee
biography that inspired a popular reassessment of Malcolm X.
Mississippi Burning (1990, 118 minutes): Hollywood
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Night and Fog (1955, 31 minutes): Alain Resnais s powerful
film about the atrocities of Auschwitz. If piles of human hair,
and roomfuls of eyeglasses and shoes, and corpses being
The Paper Chase (1973, 111 minutes): John Houseman s
portrayal of Professor Kingsfield is a tour de force example of
the Socratic teaching method as it is practiced in law school.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, 137 minutes): This
science-fiction thriller attracted attention because it included a
tough, independent female hero. In the same year, Silence
of the Lambs (1991, 118 minutes) attracted notoriety for its
creepy Hannibal Lector, but also because of Jodie Foster s
Thelma and Louise (1991, 128 minutes): This buddy movie
was hailed by many critics as a great step forward for women
in films. Others argued, however, that it is simply a feminine
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Things to Come (1936, 100 minutes): Visually arresting story
of a 95-year war, a war that drags on so long people no longer
know what started it or what is about. Stylistically creates a
sense of the individual being consumed by impersonal
Weapons of the Spirit (1989, PBS, 90 minutes): Pierre
Sauvage s film about the French Protestant village of Le
Chambon s defiance of the Nazis who occupied it. Villagers